I’m just going to the store…

I find this photo ironic, because sometimes police are the worst panhandlers.

…don’t accost me on my way in and out begging for money.  (Sometimes you do get hit up in both directions, too.)  And really, that’s what is going on, begging for money.  Same goes for at the register, btw.  Doesn’t matter if a product is being sold or a good cause is being promoted.  It’s still confronting people to pressure them into buying a product they didn’t come out for.  Sort of an emotional public intimidation.  But what it really is is begging.

I’m just going to the store, leave me alone.

I’m not talking traditional panhandling.  You know, the people at the side of the road with cardboard signs.  That’s bad enough.  But that’s easy to take care of… just swing your car as if you’re going to run them over and watch them scurry for safety.  LOL!!!  Oh, fun times.  😛  But I digress.

Warning, mini-rant:  I especially hate it when panhandlers use their kids.  That makes me angry.  /mini-rant off

Anyway, Little League, school clubs, Scouts, various charities and so on, all selling their various goodies and wares by placing themselves at an unavoidable place of a store entrance.  It doesn’t really matter what the cause it, I didn’t leave home to seek you out, you placed yourself in my path seeking money.  That’s a form of begging.

The worst, IMO, is the fire fighter “boot drives”, where fire fighters (and sometimes police) station themselves at busy intersections and walk up and down the stopped vehicles holding their boots out for people to toss money in.  Let’s be real, that’s intimidating to the average person, and they know it.  It’s a form of bullying, an emotional strong-arm tactic, regardless the intent or who is doing it.  Bottom line:  it’s no less panhandling than what traditional panhandlers do.  No way around it.

I don’t appreciate being put in the position of being the “bad guy” who didn’t donate to the cause, or didn’t buy the requisite amount of cookies, or whatever, in full view of everyone and being labeled “that guy” when I may have a perfectly good reason to not participate.  Maybe I give elsewhere.  Maybe I have other causes near and dear to my heart, and limited resources, so I have to pick and choose accordingly.  Public coercion doesn’t allow for that, though.  You still get unfairly labeled.

Then again, maybe I should embrace being “that guy”.  I am a curmudgeon, after all.

Visiting the Doctor

Last week I had a doctor appointment.  Now, a somewhat consistent annoyance of mine is going through the list… and my list is looooooong, unfortunately… of medications.  Do you take this/that/this/that, and on and on.  Yes/yes/yes/yes, and on and on.  It’s very tedious, and let’s just say that my patience is short for a patient.

I’m thinking, I’m going to beat this.  I start this long ambling monologue about how my sister does the same job, people always say there aren’t any changes, then admit there are, fess up that yes I did do that once, but that yes everything… and I mean everything… is still the same, except this one new prescription, which I produce from my pocket and show them.  I’m thinking I was pretty clever.  They would know that anyone who thought this through to that extent would obviously know what they’re talking about, and leave me alone.

*sigh*  No.  They still had to ask every single medication.  She thanked me several times for my patience, but I think she knew I was highly annoyed.  (I was annoyed enough that I was only half paying attention and said ‘yes’ to everything, which I’m sure didn’t help.)

Like I said, my sister has to do this, too.  She explained it to me once, and it did make sense.  I get it, people are forgetful.  Probably liability and health reasons, too, I’m sure.  Fast forward to today, and I have another appointment with a different doctor.

I’m thinking, I’m going to beat this.  I got online and went through their “eCheck-In” and confirmed all my personal information and medications.  The website said this would speed up the process because all the questions were already done.  And, just in case, I took a printed sheet of all my medications and doses with me.

It didn’t start well.  The receptionist started asking my personal info.  I interrupted and said I had already done the eCheck-In.  She looked on another screen, confirmed that I had, and stopped asking questions.

After I got called back to see the doctor the nurse starts her usual routine, including verifying medications.  😐  I politely… and I was very polite, I think… point out that I went through their eCheck-In and already verified everything.  She says she has no way to see that on her computer, so she has to ask anyway.

Double 😐

At this point I whip out my handy-dandy paper list and hand it to her.  She looks at it, and… proceeds to ask me about every single one as she is comparing my list to her computer.

*facepalm*

This is already bad enough.  I’m feeling minorly insulted and majorly annoyed.  But, now I had one more thing to complain about.  Why the #$%! do they promote their eCheck-In when they’re not going to use it, anyway?